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Yesterday was a total cluster-you-know-what. We had my aunt and uncle over for brunch, and we sat outside in the sun for most of the day drinking, talking, arguing, and having fits of hysteric laughter. I made some delicious paleo pumpkin pie muffins and baked bacon, and helped with making an incredible goat cheese, leek, and grape tomato fluffy frittata. There were all kinds of delicious fruits and sweet potato puree as well. Add in bloody marys and mimosas by the bucketload, and that was my day. I took a quick cat nap around 4, and was ready to head to crossfit for the 5:30 evening class to work off all the booze and sugar. Like I mentioned to a friend this week, “no progress is progress when I’m at the beach,” due to food and alcohol consumption tripling when I’m with my family down here. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

The WOD was programmed to be “The Big Dirty” again, since only a few people showed up for it on Thanksgiving day. Todd brought up about me doing “Diane,” since it was the scheduled WOD on mainsite, but I vetoed that since I can’t do handstand pushups yet. YET. So he thought for a minute and then decided to throw together a franken-WOD from the Crossfit Games qualifying WODs from Regionals this year. This is what he came up with:

WOD for Time: 16:37

For the pistols, Todd set me up with a box behind me, so I wouldn’t get too low and stuck in the hole at the bottom since I’m so flexible. Also, when my legs were dying, I was able to use my fingertips to help me start back upwards. This was wayyy more efficient and taxing than the way I’ve fine them assisted in the past, holding onto a ring or bands. Doing that, you don’t work on balance or weight distribution, and I feel like I relied more on the assistance than I probably should have. Doing those pistols after the row was freaking brutal. Todd corrected my single arm snatch form, which was something that I really needed. I wasn’t dropping my hips low enough, and was pulling with my back too much. It was instantly easier, but put more into my legs. Around rep 40 I started split snatching, to get under the weight quicker. I can’t believe the women’s Rx’d weight was a 70 freaking pound dumbbell. This morning my calves and glutes were so painfully tight, I decided to skip out on this morning’s WOD. I forgot my Rumble Roller at home, so I haven’t been able to roll out. I totally blame this soreness and tightness on that!

I leave to go home tomorrow morning. Leaving here is always the worst feeling and I’m going to miss my parents immensely. The next three weeks are going to be hell, and I will be extremely lucky to get in two workouts a week (including dance class). End of semester projects/papers/exams, then a week of finals. Time to buckle down..or buckle up. Not quite sure which, but it’s going to be rough ride either way.

As always, I had a blast at Crossfit Carteret, working out with Todd and Rhonda. If you ever find yourself down in Beaufort, NC, please check out their great box and WOD with them. Until next spring, guys! Thanks again for having me!

3 minutes Push-Ups: this is SO IMPORTANT for everyone to watch a video on proper push-up form. I almost never see people go all the way chest-to-deck. I will do a full write up on this at some point.

2 minutes Kettlebell Swings: first time doing KB swings full-range since tweaking my back a month or so back!

1 minute Pull-Ups

Looks easy enough, right? WROOOOONG. Man, by the end of the first 5 minutes my shoulders were completely SHOT from the HSPUs. The air squats were a welcome “active rest” period, the push-ups were completely awful due to the HSPUs previously, the KB swings were great and I felt very strong using my hips as the driving force, and the pull-ups just about killed me. For the HSPUs, as I previously stated, I went to negatives and a hold. HSPUs: 25 + one 45 second handstand hold, air squats: 105, push-ups: 15 strict + 35 knees when form failed, for total of 50, kettlebell swings with 12kg/24lb: 48, pull-ups: a good ol’ whoppin’ 6, but they were unassisted.

So, how do you run a total for this? I guess adding everything without the hold, my total was 234. It was a quick, 15min workout that completely rocked my shoulders and quads. Pretty great! Tomorrow is Crossfit Carteret’s open house, and I’m hoping I’ll be participating in some of the demo-WODs that they’ll be doing throughout the early afternoon. I love working out with them so much! Sad to leave on Sunday!!

Strength:

12 min EMOTM Max Effort L-Sit on Rings: At the beginning of each minute, get up into an L-Sit or Ring Support with tucked knees, and hold as long as possible. Rest until the next minute begins, and repeat. I moved from L-Sit to Tucked Ring Support to Ring Support pretty quickly. Shoulders were completely gassed. Held at least 10 second every round, until the last two where I was up and down a few times to total about 15 seconds.

Then:

Partner WOD:

One partner runs 400m while the other partner completes as many medicine ball cleans as possible in that time. Once the 400m run is completed, partners switch. Continue for 30 minutes. Your score is the total amount of medicine ball cleans completed.

This was freaking BRUTAL. The L-Sits were painful at best, and running in the hot humid weather was awful. My partner was another female out-of-towner who was a beast, and really helped our score. She steadily averaged about 5-8 more medicine ball cleans per round than I did, which could have been because of how awful the running was for me. I learned today that I’m not very good at running on uneven terrain. That will make for a fun Tough Mudder this September! Not…eh. I ended up running a total of 2 miles (~3200m). Whew! I’m fairly happy with my performance. If I had scaled the weight on the cleans a little I would have felt better and accomplished more, but I’m glad I pushed through, in the end.

In other news: I’m doing some reading and unfortunately I think my “extremely sore weird area of my inner legs/calves” might end up being shin splints. I really hope that’s not the case, because I don’t want to rest/ice/do burpees instead of run or doubleunders while they heal. Ugh. When I get back into Northern Virginia I’m going to pop into the box I go to in Arlington and ask my favorite trainer what she suggests. I really hope it’s just sore muscles in a spot I’ve never worked before. Fingers crossed!

Before I write anything else, I just wanted to say how much I absolutely love working out with the people of Crossfit Carteret. I have never felt more welcomed by a group of people. Ever since finding out about this box (other word for gym, since most Crossfit “gyms” are pretty much just four walls and a roof, warehouse style) I’ve had much more motivation to come down to the beach and stay for as long as possible.

It’s hard going on vacation, especially beach vacations. You eat differently, more frequently, and tend to do a lot of lying around. I could go on and on about how to make it work and come out ahead after being on vacation, but when it comes down to it, you are the only person who can make it happen; it’s as easy as doing the same things that you do while you’re at home. If you would like to hear some tips, let me know in the comments! Keep reading to hear about my first experience at Crossfit Carteret.

Crossfit Carteret

The owners, Todd, in the center in red, and Rhonda, to the left in white. Also shown: my gnarly tears from the heavy deadlift WOD that day.

I am currently vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for 10 days. Thankfully, the last time I was down here I decided on a whim to search for a crossfit gym in this area, and came up with Crossfit Carteret in Beaufort, NC. I am planning on writing up a detailed review of their gym after this trip, but every experience I have had with them since has been amazing.

They are closed on Sundays and I couldn’t make it in yesterday morning, so I decided to create a little somethin’-somethin’ using bodyweight exercises that I could do in the driveway area of where I’m staying. Here is what I came up with:

5 Rounds for Time of:

30 Double Unders (exactly like jumping rope as a child, except the rope goes around twice for every one jump)

20 Air Squats (hips must go below the crease of the knees; no assistance from arms to stand up)

10 Jumping Lunges (5 on each leg, technically)

5 Strict Push-Ups (chest must make full contact with the ground before pushing back up)

1 150m Sprint (I use RunningMap to plan out the distances for all of my runs)

I didn’t think this would be all that bad. It was. The jumprope went rogue on the third round and I ended up whipping myself across the eye and cheekbone (didn’t even know that was possible), it was 89 degrees with no breeze and humid as all hell from the storm that passed through last night, and I was working out alone. These three factors all definitely impacted my results, but I finished in 19:50, and did all 25 of the push-ups in standard plank form instead of from my knees, which was actually my first time doing that in a WOD. I’m a pull-er, not a push-er, gimme a break. I am looking forward to trying this again in a month or so and seeing the difference!

Anyway, this was a pretty awesome workout. It just goes to show that even armed with nothing other than your cellphone and a jump rope you can still get a great workout in. Give it a go, try to beat my time, and let me know how you do!